This week's menu - Focus: No meat!

As I mentioned in our recent Facebook post, we were inspired this week to revisit our almost-meatless days by our Nurse Practitioner Amber Morrow. We all had dinner at Tari's last night, where they usually have a nice selection of meatless dinners, and she and Willa (our 18-year old) both chose one of those. I got the beef tips, but theirs actually looked tastier (although the beef tips were very good...) When our family moved to Berkeley Springs 13 years ago, we were strict vegetarians. However, after about 3 years of living here, where being vegetarian meant you had to pick the bacon out of the green beans, or deal with the fact that your black bean soup had lard in it, combined with fact that our favorite hangout, The Troubadour Lounge, was purported to have the best steak in the universe (and it does), we were eating meat fairly regularly. So this week we're going to try toning down the meat, and increasing the veggies. You don't have to be a nutritionist to know that more vegetables and less meat is better for your health: the vegetables on your plate should take up at least 1/2 the space, with the other half divided equally between lean protein and whole grains. Here is this week's menu, with links to the recipes.

I found most of these recipes on two of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen and Serious Eats. If you're ever feeling bored with menu planning, I challenge you to spend 15 minutes on either one of these blogs and not be drooling with anticipation, inspiration, and a shopping list in hand.

Chana masala

Indian spiced cauliflower and potatoes

Jasmine basmati rice (you can buy this at Martin's grocery store, or any grocery store with a good selection)

Store-bought naan bread (even our poor old Food Lion usually carries this)

Huevos rancheros

Herbed green beans (really, just steamed green beans with some garlic- and rosemary infused olive oil dressing)

Pasta with garlic and broccoli 

This is easy: 

1. Start your pasta water boiling; steam 1 large clump of broccoli per person until bright green but not limp 
2. In a large saute pan, saute about 3-4 cloves (or more if you like) of very very thinly sliced FRESH garlic -- not that junk in a jar -- in about 4 tablespoons of good olive oil. Shake in a little dried chili pepper
3. Cook the pasta
4. Toss the cooked broccoli with the sauteed garlic until coated. Add more olive oil if desired, and salt and pepper to taste. If you like parmesan cheese, sprinkle on some freshly grated cheese. Serve with some good French or Italian bread.

Vidalia onion soup with croutons

Green salad

Pan fried tofu with dark sweet sesame sauce

Asparagus sautéed in (purchased) black bean sauce

Either rice or udon noodles

You'll notice that none of these recipes are American. Sadly, there is not a lot of traditional American food that's vegetarian. In Asian countries, meat is often more of a condiment. In India, beef is forbidden to the Hindus, and other meat can be scarce. Anyway, it's fun to cook with different ingredients, and combine old ones in interesting new ways. If you're stuck in a food rut, try some of these!

Finally, a post from your blogger

Indian food -- from my kitchen!

Well, it's been quite awhile, hasn't it! Let's just say.... I've been busy. Thank my daughter, Willa Hahn, for inspring this next post. She's going to be competing for Miss Eastern Panhandle in a few weeks, after finishing as runner up in the Miss Berkeley County pageant a few weeks ago. Each contestant is expected to have a platform; hers is "Healthy West Virginia." One problem she contemplates in creating a program is one we at the practice hear often: It takes too long to make healthy meals, and it's so easy to grab a meal at McDonalds, or buy a frozen meal. OK, that's not terrible once in awhile. But not every day. Our obesity problem in West Virginia is not going to be solved at the drive-up window of a fast-food restaurant, sorry!

So what's a busy family to do? I have the luxury of working flexible hours, so I often come home a few hours before my family to get household chores done, including cooking a healthy meal. We eat a home-cooked meal almost every night. But this "luxury" wasn't always the case. There were the days when we both had full-time jobs, visiting the gym after work almost every day, along with everything else. But we still ate at home almost every night. To top it off, we were fairly strict vegetarians at the time. I relied on  books like Meatless Dishes in Twenty Minutes or Less, a great little paperback that I believe is still in print. There are tons of other books and websites dedicated to making your mealtime less stressful. Here are a few:

• Eating Well Quick and Healthy Dinner Recipes and Menus
• Serious Eats 25 Quick Dinner Recipes Besides these dinner suggestions, this is a real foodies' paradise. It links to recipes, yes; but you can also read other foodies' blogs, restaurant reviews, and watch instructional videos on cooking techniques. Want to obsess about the best hard cider, or ask a question about the best way to poach an egg? This is the place.
• Cooking Light, one of the more popular magazines in our office judging by the dog-eared pages, always features quick, easy, healthy recipes. I love the slideshows with pictures of the food. Right now they're featuring an article on 100 ways to cook Salmon!

Some of these sites allow you to save favorite recipes, and even create a shopping list from those recipes. Many of them also have smartphone applications so you can look up recipes on the go. I use Epicurious.com's app quite often.

You'll see that the quick meals featured usually use some convenience foods to short-cut preparation time. Sometimes it's simply pre-grated cheese; but when using a pre-made sauce, for example, be careful  to choose a healthy variety.

It's always better to start with a plan. Always make a weekly menu, and from that, create your shopping list. I dread the end of a work day when I don't know what I'm going to make for dinner -- it just puts me in a bad mood! And keep some staples in your pantry for those days: some canned beans, tortillas, and cheese can make a quick burrito dinner with a few fresh additions, for example.

Besides finding a few favorite quick recipes, there is the make-ahead option. I know friends who spend their weekends cooking and freezing meals for the week. My mother is an amazing soup chef, and she'll make up a huge pot of beef vegetable soup and eat it throughout the week, adding a salad or a sandwich to the mix.

And even if you don't go crazy on the make-ahead meals, do this: when chopping an onion for tonight's meal, go ahead and chop an extra for tomorrow's and put it in a zip lock bag. Same for cheese, etc. 

And how about getting your kids involved? They probably get home from school before you get home from work. Leave them some simple instructions to shred some cheese, or prep some vegetables. If they're too young to handle the tools, maybe they could simply empty the dishwasher, or set the table. 

A rather creative idea is to start a meal-swap with a few friends. There are lots of ways  you could organize this; I first read about it in the Real Simple magazine. The basic concept is, you make meals enough for members of a group, and meet regularly to swap the meals. With a group of folks that are also committed to making healthy meals, this could be a lot of fun. I always like food that's cooked by someone else!

Anybody else out there love Pinterest? You can find tons of recipes, along with pictures of the food.  As you pin pictures of your own food, you might even inspire others!  Here's mine.  OK, some of those things aren't so healthy.... so don't look at those!

Holy flu symptoms, Batman, give me an antibiotic...?

We've been seeing a lot of different illnesses these past few weeks, especially those of the runny nose, cough, sore throat, and achy variety. How do you know if you have a cold, the flu, or something else?
WebMD is a great source for lots of health questions (be sure to check out this slideshow on Cold vs Flu). Here's a table I copied from their website to help answer the question. You'll notice that antibiotics are NOT mentioned as a treatment.

Symptoms	Cold	Flu
Fever	Rare	Characteristic, high (100-102 degrees F); lasts three to four days
Headache	Rare	Prominent
General Aches, Pains	Slight	Usual; often severe
Fatigue, Weakness	Quite mild	Can last up to two to three weeks
Extreme Exhaustion	Never	Early and prominent
Stuffy Nose	Common	Sometimes
Sneezing	Usual	Sometimes
Sore Throat	Common	Sometimes
Chest Discomfort, Cough	Mild to moderate; hacking cough	Common; can become severe
Complications	Sinus congestion or earache	Bronchitis, pneumonia; can be life-threatening
Prevention	Good hygiene	Annual flu shot or FluMist
Treatment	Only temporary relief of symptoms	Antiviral drugs (Tamiflu or or Relenza) within 24-48 hours of onset

Fitness Roundup

I'm sure you've all made your New Year's Resolutions by now, and hopefully you've included some fitness expectations for yourself. I've pledged to throw in something new every so often; this winter; it will be Big Ball Fitness classes (stay tuned for information...) in addition to what I do already. Cross-training is where it's at: it keeps you interested, and you'll use different important muscles each time. I really like to mix up Zumba, yoga, belly-dancing, and weight training myself. Here are some local classes that offer lots of variety:

• Zumba by Rene: every Monday and Wednesday at 6:00 at Earth Dog Cafe in Berkeley Springs  (YES! Earth Dog. Then you can have refreshments after class, because you will deserve it!)

• Zumba by Nicole: at the Hancock American Legion, every Wednesday at 6:30 This is a NEW class for Hancock! You can get the first class free if you pre-register. Sign up with Nicole by going to her Zumba page for information.

• Bellysima Bellydance: Tuesday mornings at 10:30 and Wednesday afternoons at 5:30 at Rankins Fitness Center in Berkeley Springs. For more information, call Angela Petry at (304)995-5832

• Baraka Kempo starts on February 8 at Rankins Fitness Center. Classes are Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 6:00 p.m.

• Ladies Bootcamp at Rankins starts on February 8, every Monday and Wednesday at 5:00 p.m.

• Silver Sneakers is every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10:30 a.m.

• Gentle Yoga at Rankins starts January 7 and is held Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9:00 am

• I believe the Big Ball class will begin soon at Rankins and will be on Tuesday nights. Check back here for more information, or watch our Facebook page for updates, or call Rankins at (304)258-5555.

If you know of any other classes in the area, please email me and I'll be happy to post it. Happy, Healthy New Years, everyone!

Healthy Patriotism

Today I was shopping. I suffer from a syndrome that I call "Shopping Induced Low Blood Sugar," or SILBS. I headed for Boston Market, because I knew I could get a relatively healthy snack quickly and cheaply. I got a piece of chicken (dark meat) and two sides: green beans and mixed vegetables. A cup of coffee. I sat down to eat. It looked good!

There were lots of other people enjoying their food.   But, something was wrong! Danger was in the air... I could smell it! I looked around. Everyone else was calmly eating. I glanced surreptitiously at the plate belonging to the older gentleman sitting across from me. Everything on that plate was beige. Turkey. Mashed potatoes. Stuffing. Corn. No colorful vegetables in sight!  Over there, a woman, semi-hunched over her plateful of beige, accompanied by a huge cup of soda. Behind me, a mom with two young kids. One had mac and cheese and corn. The other had turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy. No veggies. Next to me a young lady was complaining about Boston Market's policy of omitting salt shakers on the tables. (Instead of the shaker is a card that explains Boston Market's concern over their customers eating too much sodium. It further explains that if one wants salt, it's over there by the beverages.)

Now, if I had seen one of my fellow patrons catch on fire while they were dining, would I have run over and tried to help? Of course. If I had seen one of them later, getting ready to jump off a bridge, would I have tried to talk them out of it? Of course. Yet there I sat, helplessly watching a roller coaster ride with a broken track. Nobody else saw it, and nobody else would listen to me, or believe me, and the ride was about to end horribly for a whole train of people.

The roller coaster was filled with people heading for a health crisis. According to statistics, at least half of the people in this room were either already suffering from at least one chronic illness that could potentially kill them. Although the rate of obesity for adults in America is 30%, every single of of the people (including the children) in this room were at least overweight.

Should I have gone over to the gentleman next to me and quietly suggested that he might want to have a plate of vegetables to go with all that gray stuff on his plate? Should I have offered to get the kids some green beans? Should I have just stood in the middle of the room and screamed, "WHERE ARE YOUR VEGETABLES??" At best, I would've probably been called a busy body and told to shut up.  If I'd persisted, there would've probably been restraints involved, maybe even a police officer or two. 

Look. I am concerned about these people on a personal basis. And if I thought speaking to them would help, I would. But the fact is, they are contributing to problem bigger than themselves.  

Everyone is concerned about the price of healthcare in America and the topic makes for some pretty contentious debate about how it should be handled. But there seems to be a very big disconnect between "the price of healthcare" and personal responsibility. When people overeat, don't exercise, and otherwise neglect their health, they are going to get sick. Their  insurance is going to have to pay for them to go to the doctor regularly and often, get tests, and if things get really bad, have surgery or other invasive procedures. Of course these higher costs to the insurance companies are passed on to everyone in the form of higher premiums.  If they don't have insurance, and can't pay for their healthcare, the costs are  passed on to the taxpayers one way or another. 

More than half of Americans now have at least one chronic condition. These chronic conditions comprise 75% of all healthcare spending. And it doesn't stop there. When someone becomes chronic, the dominoes start to fall. People start missing work, leading to less productivity to the tune of $153 billion a year. More money lost.

 Getting people to stop smoking, eat good food (but not too much!), and exercise is a constant mantra of your primary care providers. But I wonder, if we told our patients that being responsible for their health is patriotic, that would make a difference? 

Medicare Open Enrollment Begins October 15

With the open enrollment period coming up (it runs from October 15-December 7) you might be one of those who is considering a switch from original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan (or vice versa), or from one Medicare Advantage plan to another. I happened to run across this great article from Consumer Reports that gives you lots of tips, whether you're signing up for a Medicare plan for the first time, or you've been a recipient for years wondering if you're on the best plan. Check it out! As you probably know, Consumer Reports accepts no advertisements, so you can be assured their advice is unbiased.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Our Hancock office is bedecked and beribboned in pink this month and we're wearing our pink t-shirts on Casual Friday. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. You'll be seeing a lot of pink ribbons this month! There are also a number of organizations that are planning events to raise awareness, as well as raise funds to help women prevent breast cancer,and to help women with breast cancer cope with it.

The Breast Cancer Awareness - Cumberland Valley Inc is one such organization. They provide free early detection and after-diagnosis support programs such as support groups for women with breast cancer and their families, a telephone hotline, and they provide wigs, hats and turbans to those undergoing chemotherapy. They have events scheduled throughout the year to raise funds for these valuable services. One of their biggest is coming up on October 20th: The Step N Stride Against Breast Cancer. Walkers and Zumba dancers are asking sponsors for donations. Our staff is participating with Zumba instructor Rene Kesecker's team and would love our patients to help sponsor us! You can email Bibi Hahn for information, or stop by our office and check out all the information on display here.